Arizona may just have found its identity in the Big 12 opener as it never gave up in a gutty performance to edge out BYU 57-53 at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Saturday afternoon.
It was an exciting finish that came down to the final minute when Arizona's Breya Cunningham scored on a putback with 21.2 seconds left — off a missed drive by Jada Williams — to give the Wildcats a 55-53 edge. Freshman Mailien Rolf pulled down a key defensive rebound with 12.6 seconds left to give Arizona possession. Williams was fouled with a few seconds left on the clock and missed both free throws — unusual for her as she is an 89% shooter from the line. BYU secured the rebound and called a quick timeout.
Arizona forward Breya Cunningham, seen here on Oct. 25, 2024, led the Wildcats with 21 points against BYU Saturday, Dec. 21.
It was Cunningham, again, who came up big, forcing the inbounds pass to bounce off BYU's Kemery Congdon's leg to secure the win.
Cunningham, who led all Wildcats with 21 points (10 of 15 from the field), eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals, said after the game on ESPN+ that it was all about "playing as a team, playing harder as a team ... this game was actually really good for us."
The Wildcats came out hot on both ends of the court in the first quarter. Five minutes in, they had held BYU to only three attempts and forced five turnovers. In the second quarter, things turned as BYU went on a 14-0 run to take a 30-25 lead into half. Reigning Big 12 freshman of the week, Delaney Gibb scored all 13 of her first-half points in that second quarter — and 11 of those 14 points.
She finished with 23 points but was held to only two points in the final 10 minutes.
The Wildcats made adjustments at the half, as UA coach Adia Barnes knew that BYU was a good third-quarter team. She knew the Wildcats had to come out strong and challenged them in the locker room. They did just that, outscoring BYU 32-23 over the last 20 minutes of the game.
"I thought we made adjustments that were better," Barnes said. "We still have a lot to work on because we're young. We make a lot of young mistakes. But I thought we were able to weather that storm, stop the bleeding and then figure out a way to win the possession game, which is important for us with with some of our key players in foul trouble."
Skylar Jones finished with four fouls, which limited her aggressiveness at times and Cunningham had two first-half fouls, that had both sitting out when Gibb went on her scoring streak.
Williams and Jones both finished with 11 points. Arizona forced 19 turnovers and scored 18 points off them.
Arizona guard Skylar Jones, seen here on Dec. 10, 2024, finished with 11 points in the Big 12 opener against BYU on Dec. 21, 2024.
